The following article was taken from:
"The GFA Soundboard" Fall/Winter Edition 2001/2002

A TRIBUTE TO FREDERICK M. NOADAugust 8 1929 - September 13, 2001

by Edward Flower

Frederick Noad passed away on September 13,
2001. The world of music has lost a great champion and friend. An
extraordinarily gifted man, Fred Noad was a master teacher, an accomplished
performer on both classical and flamenco guitar, a scholar, composer, arranger,
transcriber, software developer, publisher, and, of course, author.
Meeting him for the first time, one might not immediately guess that this
gentle, modest man had a fierce passion for music and an ardent and implacable
desire to pursue and realize his dreams. The concentration of all this
productive and intense energy was focused on the guitar. He had an
encyclopedic knowledge about its history, repertoire and techniques, and leaves
us an enduring legacy of scholarly editions, anthologies, recording, and
instructional books and videos.

Frederick McNeill Noad was born on August
8th, 1929, in Blankenburg, Belgium. His father was Colin Kenneth Noad of
London-a doctor and Captain attached to the 9th Ghurka Rifles in India.
His mother was Eileen Maude Mcneill of Ellary Estate, Argyllshire, Scotland. The
couple was on holiday in Belgium when their new son made a surprise entry into
the world. In 1931, at the age of 39, soon after returning to active duty
in India, Colin Noad succumbed to cholera. Frederick was only two years
old, and his brother, Duncan, only seven. Their mother, finding herself
alone with two young sons, had to forge a career for herself. Being a determined
and talented woman, fluent in German and a number of other languages, she found
work with the British Foreign Service and the BBC, eventually receiving the
award of an M.B.E. (Member of the British Empire) for her efforts.

Frederick Noad grew up in Eversley, a small
rural village in Berkshire, England. He attended Eagle House Preparatory
School, and was later accepted a Wellington College, where he received his
diploma in Latin, Greek, Ancient History and Literature. Having a quick
ear, he excelled in modern language studies, eventually becoming fluent in
French and Spanish. It was during that time he began his musical studies on the
violin, meanwhile developing a fascination for the guitar, which inspired him to
make a number of trips to Spain in search of flamenco instruction. This
was the beginning of a great love and enthusiasm for flamenco, that lasted and
grew throughout his lifetime.

In 1948, at the age of nineteen, he enlisted
in the Royal Corps of Signals. A year later, he was commissioned as a
Lieutenant and was stationed in Vienna, Austria, where he specialized in
intelligence gathering and radio communications. He also taught skiing to
the troops. Fred remained an avid HAM radio enthusiast throughout his
life. He was always a committed "gadgeteer" or "techie"
and, being a man of infinite curiosity, these skills were eventually channeled
into the world of computers. He was released from duty in 1950 and
subsequently attended Brasenose College, Oxford University, where he received
his M.A. in Jurisprudence on May 2nd 1957.

All the while, Fred had been actively
performing as a guitarist. The flamenco team Rosandro and Margarita hired
him as their principal accompanist at the Fiesta Club in London. Upon
graduating from Oxford, he was employed by J. Arthur Rank Films, and in 1958 was
sent to the United States to join the newly organized story department in
Hollywood. However, shortly after his arrival in California, the Rank
Organization underwent what is now called "downsizing," so Fred found
himself in Los Angeles without a job. Always intrepid and optimistic, this
momentary adversity did not dismay him in the least, and proved to be an
opportunity to use his musical abilities. He was engaged to play at the
Chef's Inn in Corona Del Mar. This seemingly inauspicious engagement was
to be the beginning of a most illustrious career in the world of music and the
guitar.

It was at this time that Frederick met
Marilyn Clay Stuart, in whom he found his lifelong partner. They were
married on June 2, 1960. While honeymooning in Spain, Fred had the
opportunity to study with Andres Segovia at "Musica en Compostela," in
Santiago de Compostela. He continued his study of guitar with Celedonio
Romero and Julian Bream, also composition with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
Although the couple traveled extensively and lived in England for a few years,
California became their home, and Fred chose to become an American citizen.
In early 1960s he and his wife founded the Spanish Guitar Center in Hollywood,
where he taught and imported fine guitars by such luthiers as Miguel Rodriguez
of Cordoba, and Manuel de la Chica of Granada. As his reputation grew, he
was more in demand as a teacher and player throughout the Los Angeles area.

In 1963, he was asked to write a method book
for guitar by the publisher Collier Books, which at the time was marketing the
"Quick and Easy Guide" brand name series. The book was an
introduction to classical, flamenco and folk guitar playing, and proved to be a
best seller. Shortly thereafter, in 1964, Fred approached KCET, the Public
Television affiliate in Los Angeles, with the idea of televising a series of
guitar lessons. Coincidentally, the station manager was a guitar aficionado,
and showed Fred a book he had just purchased on guitar instruction. He was
looking at the book to tell Fred who the author was, when he realized that he
was actually speaking to him! Thus began a relationship between Frederick
Noad and educational television which continues to this day. This series,
shot in black and white, ran from 1964 to 1968. Fred developed a format of
simple, clear progressive lessons, concluding with his performing a short piece.
These programs captured the imagination of millions of viewers. In 1981,
he televised a new series in color, which is still in syndication in most major
cities in the United States, as well as being broadcast overseas from Samoa to
Israel.

Throughout this time, Fred Noad remained busy
with teaching and performing. In 1964 he established a guitar instruction
program at the University of Redlands. Later, in 1973, he founded another
at the University of California at Irvine. He initiated a concert series
at Plummer Park in Los Angeles and taught summer courses at Idlewild. As a
player, he became best known for the performances which concluded his T.V.
lessons. He also gave solo concerts, and duet concerts with the guitarist
Howard Heitmeyer. He frequently performed with the tenor Hayden Blanchard,
with whom he recorded the LP for Orion Records: John Dowland, Songs and
Dances, upon which Fred played the lute, accompanied by Ruth Adams on the
viola da gamba. He also played lute and theorbo with Musica Pacifica,
recording with them the music to La Daphne on ABC records.

Based on the success of his television
programs and the Quick and Easy Guide toPlaying the guitar, in
1968 Macmillan Books asked him to write a method book for classical guitar.
This resulted in the book Solo Guitar Playing, which proved to be the
cornerstone of his life's work. His wife, Marilyn, an artist, collaborated
with him, drawing the illustrations for the book, and assisting with
proofreading, as she did often for many of Fred's books. Solo Guitar Playing
has come to be the book of choice for hundreds of thousands of professional
teachers and amateur players throughout the world. When asked why he wrote
a method book, he replied that, while teaching, it seemed pointless to repeat
the same basic information to student after student, when, by writing a book,
they could all refer to the same source. It was this combination of
inspiration and practicality which underscored all of Fred's work.

It is not an easy task to write a good
introductory method book. The author has to be an accomplished
instrumentalist, a master teacher, has to know the repertoire intimately, has to
be able to empathize with those who have absolutely no musical background, has
to set out each step in a logical, easily digestible sequence, all the while
inspiring the student to reach for the next goal. Fred's gift was that he
understood both the path of the total beginner and the aspiring professional.
Those reading his books have the sensation that the author is not just laying
out information but is their mentor and is with them all the way. He often
said that he was a great believer in "music in the home," and, in his
books and TV shows, he was always steering the student toward playing something
substatial-however simple-so that the would-be players might derive a sense of
accomplishment and satisfaction with each step of their musical journey.

Soon after the publication of Solo Guitar
Playing, the rights of Collier's A Quick andEasy Guide to Playing
the Guitar reverted to him, and the book was republished under the Playing
the Guitar by MacMillan. In the meantime, he had begun to work on a series
of anthologies which were to be published by the Ariel Company, a division of
Music Sales. This series of four books-The Renaissance Guitar, TheBaroque Guitar, The Classical Guitar and The Romantic Guitar-is
another invaluable contribution to the guitarist's library. Any player
looking for an overview of plucked instrumental music from 1500 to 1900 cannot
wish for a better collection. Each of these books was meticulously
researched. Fred scoured museums and libraries throughout Europe to ensure
that each piece in the series was not only a gem, but also historically
authentic and accurate.

It was while he was doing research for these
anthologies in Spain in 1968 that I first met Fred and his wife, Marilyn.
We stayed up until dawn at a flamenco club in the Castillo de Santa Barbara in
Alicante. The night culminated with Fred teaching the club's guitarist how
to play Sor's famous B minor etude. The young player had been hearing it
played every day on Spanish Television but could not read music, so when he
understood that Fred was a well known teacher, he begged him to show him how to
play it. I remember being struck by the clarity and purity of Fred's
guitar sound, echoing through the old Spanish castle. Years later, we did
a number of duet recitals and recordings. Besides the fun we had, the
memory which lingers the most is Fred's exquisite sense of phrasing, and the
beauty of his tone.

When personal computers arrived on the scene,
it was a dream come true for Fred. He was always the first in line for any
new gadget, and the early Commodore 64 found and instant place in his heart.
Within weeks, he had written his own music writing program-albeit very basic.
This sowed the seed for what eventually came to be called
"SpeedScore." From the Commodore, he graduated to the Atari and
then, later, to the Mac. He humorously dubbed his efforts "Noad's
Folly," because at times the amount of time spent developing the program
seemed inconsistent with the potential rewards. What he wanted was a
computer music-writing program which one could learn in minutes, which was
intuitive and logical (much like Fred), without a host of unnecessary
"bells and whistles," and was as close to writing by hand as possible.
The process of developing "SpeedScore" typified Fred's approach to
realizing his ideas. He was a creative visionary, but even more so a doer.
He made the supposition that "SpeedScore," as an idea, might simplify
his life, and if that turned out to be the case, then he could market it and
simplify other people's lives too.

Other major works were published: The
First Book for the Guitar, written for the younger student; Solo Guitar
Playing, Volume 2; The New Guitar Song Book; 100Classical
Studies; Frederick Noad's Classical Guitar Treasury; Heitor Villa
Lobos' Complete Works for Solo Guitar; two TV booklets(12 lessons each)
which accompany the Television instruction series; The Virtual Guitarist,
and his final publication, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing the Guitar.

It seems a curious coincidence that his first
and last books would be general introductory methods for a "brand
name" series. Both have proven to be bestsellers, and deservedly so.
The complete Idiot's Guide to Playing the Guitar is, in its way, a
masterpiece. The total beginner, starting from scratch, all of a sudden
finds that he or she is playing music. I complemented Fred on this
seemingly effortless progression, and all he said was: "Yes, well I've
spent quite a bit of time thinking about this." He was a master of
understatement.

I was recently speaking about Fred with a
friend who is a prominent teacher in the Chicago area. He commented that
almost every student who walks through his door has at least one or two books by
Frederick Noad. It is hard to quantify the effect he has had on the guitar
industry, but my friend's observation must hold true throughout the English
speaking world. Furthermore, Solo Guitar Playing has been
translated in Dutch, Italian, French, Japanese, Korean and Spanish, and is also
available in China. The TV series is still in syndication throughout the
world, so it is safe to say that his efforts and example have introduced
millions upon millions of people to the guitar, giving them solid technical and
musical foundations, and inspiring their lives through the gift of being able to
play music. His is an immeasurable contribution to our world. His
life's work has made it a better place. If I were to imagine Fred living
longer, you can be sure that he would have filled these years with an abundance
of even more inspiring books and teachings. As it is, we are graced by an
unparalleled legacy of musical offerings for the guitar, which will enrich
generations long after you and I are gone.

Those who knew him will remember him as a
warm, modest, wise, and witty man, a devoted husband, loyal friend, and a lover
of animals, especially dogs and cats. He had impeccable "old
world" manners, a terrific sense of humor and fun, an excellent grasp of
business matters, and a giving, generous spirit. He was a first rate
musician and a truly caring human being. Rest in peace, Fred.